Marlins Notes: Stowers, Arquette, Pauley
The Marlins had a bit of an injury scare regarding star outfielder Kyle Stowers today, as he was scratched from his scheduled appearance in the Miami lineup today due to hamstring tightness. As noted by Christina De Nicola of MLB.com, manager Clayton McCullough told reporters this afternoon that imaging on Stowers had revealed a “very minor” strain in his right hamstring.
While hamstring strains can often be serious issues, with even relatively minor strains costing players upwards of a month, it seems Stowers’s strain was caught early enough that it shouldn’t be a major problem for him. McCullough indicated that Stowers will be sidelined for just a week or two before returning to game action, and that he could resume taking at-bats outside of games within the next few days. That’s great news for the Marlins given that Stowers is their best and most established hitter on the roster at the moment. The 2025 All Star is coming off a rookie campaign where he slashed an excellent .288/.368/.544 with 25 homers and 21 doubles in 117 games.
If the Marlins are going to build on their third-place finish in the NL East last year and push back over .500 for the first time since their surprise postseason appearance back in 2023, they’ll need Stowers to be healthy and firing on all cylinders. With Opening Day now just a month away, it would be understandable for Miami to be cautious with Stowers as they bring him back into game action over the coming weeks. If Stowers suffers a setback or his hamstring is re-aggravated once he begins ramping back up, that could put his availability for the start of the season in danger. Youngsters Jakob Marsee and Owen Caissie currently figure to handle center field and right field for the Marlins, respectively, but a more serious injury to Stowers could open the door for some combination of Griffin Conine, Javier Sanoja, Christopher Morel, and Esteury Ruiz to get looks in his absence.
Looking elsewhere on the Marlins’ roster, De Nicola also reports that top Marlins prospect Aiva Arquette underwent core muscle surgery recently and is facing a four to six week recovery period before he can resume baseball activities. Arquette reportedly suffered a left groin strain during his offseason workouts, and while he stopped activities and focused on recovery from there his arrival in camp came with renewed discomfort and prompted the procedure. A consensus top-50 prospect in the sport, Arquette was Miami’s first-round pick (seventh overall) in the 2025 draft. He scuffled a bit in his first 27 games as a professional last year at the High-A level, but the 22-year-old figures to spend much of the year at Double-A once he’s ready to return to action and could be on the radar for a big league debut sometime next year.
Elsewhere on the infield, MLB.com notes that Graham Pauley has begun working his way back after being shut down due to forearm tightness earlier this week. Pauley is slated to throw to 90 feet and take live at-bats today, and is slated to serve as the team’s DH in tomorrow’s Spring Training game against the Nationals. Assuming those first steps go well, it stands to reason that Pauley could be back to regular work at some point next week. Pauley hit just .224/.311/.366 in 64 games for the Marlins last year, but his left-handed bat and solid defense at third base could still earn him some work around the infield against tough right-handed pitchers throughout the year given that switch hitter Xavier Edwards is the only other infielder on the projected roster that doesn’t bat right handed.
Marlins Notes: Stowers, Caissie, Junk
The Marlins and breakout right fielder Kyle Stowers discussed a long-term contract earlier in the winter, and while no deal came together, the 28-year-old slugger told the Marlins beat in camp yesterday that he remains open to a deal (video link via MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola). Stowers pushed back on reports that suggested he’d had a nine-figure asking price, plainly stating, “I didn’t ask for $100MM” and adding that he was never presented a formal offer from the club.
“I’m just so excited to be here,” said Stowers. “So grateful to be in this organization. I was bummed we didn’t get something figured out — would love to some day — but at the same time, let’s take care of this year, and we’ll go from there. … I can’t stress enough how much I love this organization, how much I love being in Miami and playing for this team, [with] this group of guys.”
A well-regarded prospect who came to Miami alongside Connor Norby in the deal sending Trevor Rogers to Baltimore, Stowers broke out with a career-best .288/.368/.544 batting line (149 wRC+) and 25 home runs in only 457 plate appearances last year. He’d very likely have topped 30 home runs and perhaps even garnered some down-ballot MVP votes had an oblique strain not shelved him for about six weeks and limited him to 117 games.
Stowers struggled against lefties, hitting only one of his 24 round-trippers against a southpaw, and he’s probably not going to maintain a .356 average on balls in play. That, coupled with his 27.4% strikeout rate, might lead to some regression in his rate stats. But even if Stowers doesn’t hit for a particularly high average, his 10.5% walk rate and strong batted-ball metrics suggest he ought to be able to post a quality on-base percentage with plus power contributions.
There’s no major urgency for Miami to complete a deal at this time. Stowers remains under club control for another four seasons and will play the upcoming 2026 campaign at age 28. Any extra seasons tacked on via a contract extension would begin with his age-32 campaign. Miami already controls the slugger for the majority of his remaining prime seasons, so it’s understandable if they’re wary of going particularly long-term on the late-blooming slugger — even on the heels of an All-Star campaign. At the same time, Stowers will be arbitration-eligible for the first time next winter. His gaudy power output should lead to a nice year-one salary in arbitration, which will lessen some of his own urgency to take anything that feels significantly below market value.
Stowers’ path from a well-regarded but somewhat blocked prospect in Baltimore to a starter in Miami is one that fellow outfielder Owen Caissie will hope to follow in 2026. The former Cubs top prospect, acquired as the headliner in this offseason’s Edward Cabrera trade, chatted with SportsGrid’s Craig Mish (video link) about the emotions of being traded and the excitement over what’s clearly a more straightforward path to playing time in South Florida.
“I thought I was pretty blocked,” said Caissie in reply to Mish asking him about the opportunity (or lack thereof) with his former team. “…Chicago is pretty stacked. It’s pretty tough for a guy to break through. There’s a big payroll and everything like that. … The Cubs have had a great squad the last couple years.”
Opportunities have indeed been limited for young outfielders in Chicago. Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki have been mainstays on the roster for several years. Cody Bellinger was with the Cubs from 2023-24. The acquisition of Kyle Tucker plugged him into an everyday role in 2025 (after Bellinger’s departure), and Pete Crow-Armstrong has emerged as the primary center fielder (and won’t often be subbed out, due to his brilliant defense).
Caissie has far fewer obstacles in front of him with Miami. Stowers will occupy one corner, and Jakob Marsee is penciled into center after an impressive two-month run to close out the 2025 season. Caissie, who slashed .286/.386/.551 with 22 homers in 99 Triple-A games last year, is the on-paper favorite for work in right field but will likely still need a nice performance in camp to earn the spot rather than have it handed to him.
Elsewhere in camp, there’s at least some mild concern regarding right-hander Janson Junk. The 30-year-old righty had his own breakout showing in Miami last season and is vying for a rotation spot this spring, but he rolled his ankle Tuesday during workouts and was in a walking boot yesterday, De Nicola writes. The team was sending Junk for imaging to determine how severe any damage might be.
Junk, who described himself as “day to day” with the ankle issue, is on his sixth team since 2021 but turned in 110 innings of 4.17 ERA ball for Miami last year. Sixteen of his 21 appearances were starts. He fanned 17.9% of opponents against a microscopic 2.9% walk rate. Whether he ends up being named Miami’s fifth starter or heads to the bullpen for a swing role, Junk figures to make the Opening Day roster as long as he’s healthy. He’s out of minor league options and thus can’t be sent to Triple-A without clearing waivers, which wouldn’t happen after last year’s solid performance.
Marlins, Kyle Stowers Recently Discussed Extension
The Marlins and outfielder Kyle Stowers held some extension talks earlier this offseason, reports Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic, but weren’t close and the talks fell apart. She characterizes the sides as roughly $50MM apart, with Stowers and his camp targeting about $100MM while the Fish were more in the $50MM range.
Stowers, 28 in January, had a breakout season in 2025. A notable prospect with the Orioles, he hadn’t yet established himself as a big leaguer when he was flipped to Miami in the 2024 deadline deal sending Trevor Rogers to Baltimore.
Going into 2025, Stowers had 340 plate appearances spread over three seasons with a 6.2% walk rate, 33.8% strikeout rate, .208/.268/.332 line and 69 wRC+. This past season, he took a big step forward. His 27.4% strikeout rate was still high but a massive improvement over his previous work. He also pushed his walk rate to 10.5% and hit 25 home runs, leading to a .288/.368/.544 line and 149 wRC+.
He won’t be able to sustain a .356 batting average on balls in play but he’d be a strong offensive player even with a bit of regression in the luck department. He didn’t get strong defensive grades but he was around average. He missed the final six weeks of the season due to an oblique strain but FanGraphs still credited him with four wins above replacement.
Locking up that kind of player while he’s still relatively young and affordable is a sensible desire for the Marlins. Stowers has just over two years of big league service time, meaning he can still be retained for four seasons and hasn’t qualified for arbitration yet.
There has also been some recent reporting suggesting that the Marlins may be looking to increase their competitive balance tax number in 2026. Per that reporting, it’s possible that both the MLB Players Association and fellow owners take umbrage with how the Marlins have been using their revenue sharing money. With the collective bargaining agreement a year away from expiring, the club might want to put forth a better face now.
This was the situation the A’s were in last winter. They ramped up spending in an effort to avoid an MLBPA grievance. That included signing free agents like Luis Severino and José Leclerc as well as signing extensions with Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler.
The Marlins have been connected to various free agents, including Michael King and Devin Williams, but extensions are particularly good if bumping up the CBT number is the goal since a player’s CBT hit comes from the average annual value of his deal. For instance, Butler only had a $2.25MM salary in 2025 but his CBT hit was about $9.36MM since he was guaranteed $65.5MM over seven years.
From the perspective of Stowers, an extension would limit his overall earning power but he’s not on an amazing track for a huge payday. Due to his somewhat late breakout, he’s not slated to hit the open market until the winter before the 2030 season, which would be his age-32 campaign. Teams put a high value on youth these days, which won’t help Stowers. In the past decade, Freddie Freeman is the only position player free agent to get a nine-figure deal beginning at age 32 or older, as shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker.
Though an extension might make sense for both sides, they still have to agree on the number, which is where things have apparently broken down. Per Ghiroli, Stowers’s camp was looking to get a deal somewhat like the Bryan Reynolds extension with the Pirates, which gave him $100MM in new money over seven years. The Marlins were apparently hoping for something more like the Red Sox’ extension with Ceddanne Rafaela, which paid him $50MM over an eight-year span. Since that deal came shortly after the 2024 season began, MLBTR characterizes it as $49.3MM in new money over seven years.
Reynolds and Rafaela are both outfielders but neither is a great comp for Stowers in terms of earning power. Rafaela had barely played in the majors and only had a handful of service days at the time of his deal. Reynolds, meanwhile, had already racked up over four years of service time. As mentioned, Stowers is just a bit over two years of service, putting him in between the two. Players generally get more earning power as they rack up service time and get closer to free agency.
For players under three years of service, there have been some massive nine-figure deals for guys like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Bobby Witt Jr., though those guys were already superstars in their early 20s. Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman got $115MM and $100MM from the Astros, respectively, each beginning with his age-26 season. However, both of those guys had more major league success than Stowers does now and were a bit younger.
Kevin Kiermaier and the Rays agreed to an extension in March of 2017, when Kiermaier was still four years away from free agency. He had qualified for arbitration as a Super Two player and had already agreed to a $2.975MM salary for 2017. The deal was for six years and $53.5MM, which meant it added about $50.5MM in new money over five years, beginning with his age-28 campaign. Kiermaier had a decent floor thanks to his speed and defense but limited upside due to his tepid offense and injury-prone reputation. That deal is almost a decade old and a similar player should get more nowadays just based on inflation.
Put it all together and meeting somewhere in between $50MM and $100MM could make some sense for both parties. For now, it seems like that’s not on the table, but the two sides could resume talks later. The most common time for extensions to come together is in the spring, as teams generally focus on external additions throughout the earlier parts of the offseason.
Photo courtesy of Mady Mertens, Imagn Images
Marlins Notes: Stowers, Norby, Pauley, Myers
It’s been nearly a month since Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers was sidelined by side strain, and he actually began a rehab assignment on September 5 at the Triple-A level. Unfortunately, that September 5 game remains his most recent appearance after he was sidelined by a right oblique strain. According to Kevin Barral of Fish On First, manager Clayton McCullough relayed to reporters yesterday that he isn’t “exactly sure” how long Stowers will be shut down for, and that a clear timetable might not be available until after Stowers has had a few more days of downtime.
With so few days left in the regular season and the Marlins an insurmountable nine games back in the Wild Card race, there appears to be a real chance that Stowers’s 2025 season has come to a close. McCullough acknowledged as much yesterday, telling reporters (including Barral) that “we know where we’re at in the calendar.” If Stowers’s first full season as a Marlin is in fact over, it’s still hard to call it anything other than a massive success. The 27-year-old emerged as a core piece for Miami this year as he slashed .288/.368/.544 with 25 homers, 21 doubles, and 3 triples across 117 games. It was enough to earn Stowers an All-Star nod, and he’s sure to be a fixture of the club’s outfield mix next year as well.
Turning away from Stowers, the Marlins provided plenty of updates (as relayed by MLB.com) about other injured hitters today. Infielder Graham Pauley began a rehab assignment at Triple-A today as he recovers from an oblique strain suffered last month. Tomorrow, meanwhile, will see both infielder Connor Norby and outfielder Dane Myers begin rehab assignments. Norby was sidelined by a quad strain just a few days ago, while Myers has been out of commission since late August due to an oblique strain of his own.
Of that trio, Pauley is having the best season at the plate. That’s not saying very much, as the left-handed utility man is slashing .229/.310/.371 in 159 plate appearances across 54 games for the big league Marlins this year. Norby, meanwhile, has posted only slightly weaker numbers in more of a regular role. He’s slashed .247/.298/.373 in 295 trips to the plate this year while battling injuries, including a hamate fracture that required surgery back in July. He had looked a lot better after returning from that surgery, but his burgeoning hot streak was cut short at just five games by his aforementioned quad ailment. As for Myers, the 29-year-old has hit just .233/.292/.325 in 99 games this year, but he has swiped 17 bases and played strong defense in center field.
Assuming none of them face setbacks like Stowers has, all three should be expected to return before the end of the year. Maximo Acosta, Xavier Edwards, and Javier Sanoja have mixed and matched at second and third base while Pauley and Norby have been out, with Otto Lopez at shortstop. That quartet will likely be forced to get the majority of their playing time up the middle as Pauley and Norby seem poised to reclaim their timeshare at the hot corner. Myers, meanwhile, has been overtaken on the depth chart by Jakob Marsee in center field but could still see some use off the bench or in the outfield corners.
Kyle Stowers To Miss Several Weeks With Side Strain
The Marlins will be without outfielder Kyle Stowers for several weeks after he suffered a Grade 1 strain in his left side, manager Clayton McCullough informed reporters (link via Christina De Nicola of MLB.com). He’ll go on the 10-day injured list before tomorrow’s series finale in Boston. Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase first reported that Miami will recall Joey Wiemer from Triple-A Jacksonville in the corresponding move.
Stowers felt the discomfort on a swing early in Friday’s game. He stayed in for the rest of the contest but lingering soreness sent him for imaging today. A Grade 1 strain is of the lowest severity, but even relatively minor side/oblique strains can cost hitters upwards of a month. Stowers seems likely to miss most of the remaining schedule.
It’ll hopefully be no more than a blip for Miami’s breakout slugger. Stowers earned his first All-Star selection and has a .288/.368/.544 slash line across 457 plate appearances. He has hit 25 home runs and had a good shot at cracking the 30-homer mark had he stayed healthy. While he’d fallen into a bit of a slump in August, he was the National League Player of the Month in July thanks to a monster .364/.451/.818 showing with 10 longballs in 24 games. That not coincidentally overlapped with Miami’s 15-10 showing last month, offering a hint of Stowers’ ability to carry a lineup when he’s going well.
Dane Myers has spent a good chunk of this season as the starting center fielder. He has ceded playing time since Jakob Marsee was promoted to take the center field job. Myers will probably get more playing time in left field. Wiemer, who was claimed off waivers from the Royals a couple weeks ago, is now in line for his team debut in a rotational corner outfield role.
The Orioles’ Oft-Overlooked Outfielder
The Orioles are as deep as any team in baseball when it comes to young position players. As the trade deadline approaches, that’s led to interminable speculation on top prospects like Heston Kjerstad, Connor Norby, Coby Mayo and Samuel Basallo — highly touted prospects who’ve yet to solidify themselves as one of Baltimore’s long-term pillars. But for all the understandable focus on that slate of top-100 talents, the O’s have more to offer. Perhaps chief among the team’s controllable change-of-scenery candidates is outfielder Kyle Stowers. Manager Brandon Hyde alluded to the possibility in chatting with the Baltimore beat this weekend (link via Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun).
“Kyle’s going to get a chance to be an everyday Major League player here at some point, either with us or with somebody else. Who knows?” Hyde said when discussing the 26-year-old outfielder and the positive impression he’s made on his manager this season. “You never know what this game is gonna bring, but he’s putting himself in great position.”
Stowers has indeed put himself in a position to be either quite useful to the Orioles or another club before long. There’s plenty of smoke and mirrors at play with his current .306 batting average and .500 slugging percentage, as those gaudy numbers have come in a sample of just 37 plate appearances and are propped up by an unsustainable .435 average on balls in play. Meanwhile, Stowers has fanned 13 times (35.1%) without taking a walk. In parts of three MLB seasons (2022-24), he’s taken 168 plate appearances and batted .229/.274/.369. He’s fanned at a 32.1% clip and walked in 4.8% of those plate appearances.
It’s not a particularly appealing batting line on the whole, but it’s come across five separate stints (dating back to his Aug. 2022 MLB debut) and with no consistent playing time. When Stowers, a 2019 second-round pick, has received steady playing time at the Triple-A level, he’s generally been a productive hitter. The lefty-swinging slugger carries a career .252/.350/.518 batting line with 56 homers, 55 doubles, five triples and seven steals in 1029 plate appearances with Baltimore’s top affiliate in Norfolk. Stowers has been between 12% and 30% better than average at the plate in each of his four seasons with the Tides, by measure of wRC+.
Defensively, he’s seen time at all three positions but logged most of his time in right field. Baseball America ranked him ninth among O’s prospects last year (and seventh the year prior), touting his above-average speed, plus power and plus arm. Stowers has long had some strikeout issues and an aggressive approach at the plate, but he’s also walked in a hearty 11.8% of his Triple-A plate appearances. He hits right-handed pitching better than lefties, as one would expect from a slugging lefty bat, but Stowers has posted an OPS between .781 and 1.018 versus lefties in each of the past four seasons (minors and majors combined). He might never be a star, but to this point in his career, the Stanford product has looked like he could be more than the prototypical platoon slugger with minimal defensive value.
With another 51 days of service this year, Stowers would reach a full season of MLB service time, thus putting him on pace for arbitration in the 2026-27 offseason and free agency in the 2029-30 offseason. If he spends fewer than 51 days on a big league roster or injured list, that timeline to free agency would be pushed back a year. However, he’d be a very likely Super Two candidate at that point, so his arbitration timeline would remain the same — he’d just be eligible four times rather than three before free agency.
Stowers is the type of interesting trade candidate who could appeal to both contending and non-contending teams alike. He’s had a decent amount of success in Triple-A, has at least a half decade of control remaining (plus a minor league option beyond the current season), and has a limited path to an everyday role with his current club. He’d appeal to a rebuilding club as a possible return for a trade chip or perhaps to a win-now club looking for an affordable upside play in the outfield corners. Both Meyer and MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko have suggested recently that Stowers could be moved (likely for pitching).
It’s of course possible that he could be a factor for the Orioles themselves in future seasons, as Anthony Santander is a free agent this winter, while Austin Hays and Cedric Mullins could end up as trade or non-tender candidates themselves. However, even if the O’s move on from the veteran trio of Santander, Hays and Mullins before Opening Day 2025, they’ll still have Colton Cowser, Kjerstad, Mayo and Norby in the outfield mix. Both Norby and Mayo have primarily been infielders, but Baltimore’s infield is quite crowded — particularly if Jackson Holliday eventually seizes a spot — which could push Norby to left field and/or push Mayo to right field.
It’s all a “good problem to have,” but Stowers is 26 (27 in January) and down to one option year beyond the current campaign. As Hyde said, it shouldn’t come as a surprise one way or another if he’s getting a full look sooner than later. Just for fun, let’s see what MLBTR readers think about Stowers’ future with a poll:
What will the Orioles do with Kyle Stowers?
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Trade him before July 30 77% (2,232)
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Keep him -- he's part of the long-term outfield in Baltimore. 13% (383)
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Trade him this offseason 10% (277)
Total votes: 2,892
Orioles Place Heston Kjerstad On Seven-Day Concussion IL
The Orioles announced that outfielder Heston Kjerstad has been placed on the seven-day injured list for concussion-related injuries. Outfielder Kyle Stowers was called up from Triple-A Norfolk to take Kjerstad’s place on the active roster.
The injury stems from a scary incident in last night’s 4-1 Orioles loss to the Yankees, as Kjerstad was hit in the head by a Clay Holmes fastball in the bottom of the ninth. Both benches cleared in the aftermath of the HBP, only adding to the tension between the two AL East rivals in this important series. Kjerstad naturally left the game after being hit, and though he was initially included in today’s lineup, he was a late scratch following the pregame workouts.
Since there was some idea that Kjerstad could’ve returned to the field today, it might imply that the IL placement is precautionary in nature. Due to the upcoming All-Star break, Kjerstad would miss only three games if is able to return after the seven-day minimum, plus Baltimore also has an off-day on July 22 if the club wanted to give him a bit of extra recovery time. Given the fluid nature of head-related injuries, it is also possible Kjerstad could miss far beyond seven days if he has indeed suffered a concussion.
Kjerstad made his MLB debut with 13 games in 2023, and the top prospect began this season in Triple-A before being recalled to the Orioles’ roster for about a three-week stretch bridging late April to mid-May. He received only 17 plate appearances over seven games in that first stint, but has gotten much more playing time since his last recall on June 24, and has forced his way into regular action in the O’s lineup. Kjerstad has hit .378/.465/.676 with three homers in 43 plate appearances since June 24, seeing action as a DH and in both corner outfield slots and almost exclusively facing right-handed pitching.
The left-handed hitting Stowers could essentially fit right into Kjerstad’s role on paper, and also like Kjerstad, Stowers is another former top prospect looking for playing time within the crowded Baltimore roster. Appearing in each of the last three MLB seasons, Stowers has hit .222/.269/.365 over 167 career PA, though those numbers are weighed down by a dismal 33-PA performance in 2023. This year, Stowers has a more respectable .286/.278/.486 slash line in 36 PA, and he has continued to mash at Triple-A. Strikeouts remain a flaw in Stowers’ game, but he can provide the O’s with some power potential at least until Kjerstad is back.
Orioles Select Nick Maton
The Orioles announced that they have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Nick Maton. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, right-hander Tyler Wells was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Outfielder Kyle Stowers was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk to get Maton onto the active roster.
The move is seemingly related to the injury of Jordan Westburg. While fielding a grounder last night, Westburg collided with Juan Soto of the Yankees, who was trying to run from second to third base. Manager Brandon Hyde said after the game that Westburg is day-to-day with a left hip contusion, per the MLB.com injury tracker.
The Orioles have been splitting the playing time at second and third base between Westburg, Jorge Mateo and Ramón Urías. If Westburg is out of action for a few days, that means Mateo and Urías need to be in the lineup.
That scenario would have left them with no backup infielder while Westburg is hurt, so they have selected Maton. The 27-year-old was acquired from the Tigers in a cash deal in the offseason but didn’t make the club’s roster out of Spring Training. Since he’s out of options, the O’s put him on waivers and were able to pass him through unclaimed, outrighting him to Norfolk.
He has played 41 games for the Tides this year with good results. He has seven home runs and has drawn a walk in 12.5% of his 168 plate appearances. He’s hitting .294/.387/.483 overall for a 126 wRC+. He has done that while spending time at all four infield positions and a brief showing in right field as well.
That solid performance will get Maton back to the majors, at least for now. Since the O’s haven’t put Westburg on the IL and didn’t call up a notable prospect like Connor Norby or Coby Mayo, perhaps they only envision needing coverage for a few days. If that is indeed the case, Maton is out of options and would have to be designated for assignment again if they want to remove him from the roster. But if he manages to hold his spot, he has less than two years of service time and could be cheaply retained in future seasons.
As for Wells, it was reported about three weeks ago that he would require season-ending surgery of some kind on the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow. The O’s announced two days ago that the procedure had been completed, describing it as “right elbow revision ulnar collateral ligament surgery with UCL repair and internal brace augmentation.” He’ll be out for the rest of this year and likely part of the 2025 season as well.
Orioles Claim Corbin Martin, Recall Kyle Stowers
1:23pm: Baltimore will option top outfield prospect Heston Kjerstad to Norfolk to make room for Stowers, tweets Ghiroli.
12:50pm: The Orioles announced Monday that they’ve claimed right-hander Corbin Martin off waivers from the Brewers. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore’s 40-man roster had an open spot and is now at capacity. It seems as though this will be just one of multiple moves for Baltimore today, as Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic also reports that the O’s are calling up outfielder Kyle Stowers from Norfolk. The team has yet to announce that move or any corresponding transactions.
Martin, 28, was a second-round pick of the Astros in 2017 who went from Houston to Arizona as one of the headline pieces in 2019’s Zack Greinke blockbuster. His career trajectory has been impacted by injuries — Tommy John surgery most notably. Martin pitched in the big leagues in 2019, 2021 and 2022 but has just 57 2/3 MLB frames under his belt. He’s limped to a 6.71 earned run average in that time, fanning a well below-average 19% of his opponents against a weighty 13.6% walk rate.
Entering that 2019 season in which he was traded, Martin ranked 78th and 81st on the respective top-100 prospect lists published by Baseball America and MLB.com. He was touted as a high-probability mid-rotation arm, having just wrapped up a season that saw him toss 122 innings of 2.51 ERA ball with a 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate between High-A and Double-A. He underwent Tommy John surgery in early July and was included in the aforementioned Greinke trade just weeks later — a deal that was completed and filed just seconds before the deadline. Martin missed the entire 2020 season as a result and hasn’t looked the same in any of his post-surgery seasons.
In parts of three seasons since that ligament reconstruction, Martin has pitched to an ERA north of 6.00 in Triple-A. Hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League caveat notwithstanding, that type of performance simply doesn’t measure up to his prior promise. He was tagged for 21 runs in 16 big league innings with Arizona in 2021, posted a 6.08 ERA in 77 frames with the D-backs in 2022, and missed the entire 2023 season after suffering a torn tendon in his latissimus dorsi during spring training.
More concerning than the poor ERA marks was the evaporation of Martin’s command post-elbow surgery. The 7.3% walk rate he posted in 2018 feels like a distant memory. Martin issued a free pass to 11.4% of his opponents in 2021-22 (MLB and Triple-A combined). He walked a massive 13 of 50 opponents thus far in 2024 (26%).
All of those struggles aside, it’s not entirely surprising to see the Orioles claim Martin. Baltimore general manager Mike Elias was the Astros’ scouting director in 2017 when they selected Martin with the 56th overall pick in the draft and paid him a $1MM signing bonus. Elias is keenly familiar with Martin — both as the pitcher he was shaping up to be prior to his injuries and as a person.
As for Stowers, he’ll return to the big leagues for a third straight season. He hit fairly well in a small sample of 98 plate appearances in 2022 before floundering through a 2-for-30 stretch at the plate in the majors last season. The lefty-swinging 26-year-old is out to a .240/.315/.541 start in Norfolk this season and has already socked 11 home runs in 165 trips to the plate.
Contact remains something of an issue, as Stowers is still punching out in just shy of 27% of his plate appearances against a 7.9% walk rate. Nonetheless, he’ll add some left-handed pop to Baltimore’s outfield mix for the time being. Stowers has spent the bulk of his pro career in right field but has experience in all three spots and has spent more time in center this year (115 innings) than either right field (89) or left field (54).
Orioles Reassign Jackson Holliday, Option Heston Kjerstad And Kyle Stowers
The Orioles announced that they have optioned outfielders Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Stowers while catcher David Bañuelos, infielders Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo, infielder/outfielder Connor Norby and right-hander Albert Suárez have been reassigned to minor league camp.
Holliday not making the club registers as a surprise, despite his youth. He just turned 20 in December but has seemed to be on a beeline for the majors. Last year, he went through Single-A, High-A, Double-A and Triple-A, succeeding at every stop. He came into this year as the consensus top prospect in the league and was invited to big league camp. He could hardly have done much more to earn a spot, as he slashed .311/.354/.600 here in the spring, but it seems that wasn’t enough for the Orioles to add him to their major league roster.
Instead, he’ll go to Triple-A and await his debut. The move could have repercussions for his path to free agency and arbitration, depending on how long it takes him to get the call. A major league season lasts 187 days but it takes 172 for a player to earn a full year of service time. That means Holliday could still get to the one-year mark if he’s called up in the first couple of weeks of the season, though the O’s may be motivated to not let that happen. If he can’t get to one year in 2024, then he won’t be on track to get to six years and free agency by the end of 2029.
The latest collective bargaining agreement contains measures to incentivize teams to add top prospects to their roster and discourage service time manipulation. A player can still earn a full year of service time, even if not called up early enough, if he finishes in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting. Additionally, teams that carry a prospect on the roster long enough to get a traditional full year of service time can net themselves an extra draft pick if the player wins Rookie of the Year or finishes top three in the voting for Most Valuable Player or Cy Young during their pre-arbitration seasons. To qualify for these measures, a player has to be on at least two of the top 100 prospect lists at MLB.com, ESPN or Baseball America.
As mentioned, Holliday is the consensus number one prospect in the league and all of that is therefore in play. The Orioles already saw this play out in 2022 when Adley Rutschman was injured for the start of the year and was slated to come up shy of one year of service, but finished second in ROY voting and earned that full year anyway.
It seems neither the incentives nor the disincentives swayed the Orioles much and they will keep Holliday in the minors for now. That seemingly leaves Gunnar Henderson as the everyday shortstop while Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías handle second and third base. That could perhaps leave a bench spot open for Kolten Wong, who triggered his opt-out today, giving the O’s 48 hours to decide about him.
It’s also somewhat surprising that Kjerstad and Stowers got sent down, but perhaps less so. The O’s have a full outfield consisting of Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays and Anthony Santander, with Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn sharing first base and the designated hitter spot. Colton Cowser is also around and should be in the mix.
Stowers has hit just .207/.267/.331 in the majors but has much better numbers in the minors and is having a great spring. He has seven homers in Grapefruit League play and a line of .256/.267/.744, but he’ll have to serve as depth for the time being. Kjerstad didn’t show as much this spring, hitting just .265/.294/.286, but he made a nice debut in the bigs late last year. Regardless, he will also have to wait for his next major league opportunity.
The Orioles figure to have one of the most talented Triple-A teams this year, at least to begin the season. As injuries crop up throughout the year, as they do for all clubs, they are the one best positioned to find suitable replacements waiting in the wings.